Thursday, January 5, 2006

Hook 'Em 2006: The Day After

This is fun! I remember watching the Texas-OU game a couple of years ago when Vince Young was put in the game as a freshman. Oklahoma ran away with that game, but Vince Young was amazing--more amazing than any freshman had a right to be versus a team that would appear in the National Championship Game later that season. Witnessing his talent for the first time allowed me to remove myself from the moment--another loss to OU--and know that it was only a matter of time before Young would make it possible for Texas to end its losing streak in the Red River Shoot Out.

Of course, I only thought in terms of the Texas/OU game that day. I never considered a National Championship would be in reach. But damn if Vince hasn't made that happen, too.

And I'm no college football expert (my loyalties lie with the NFL), but I wonder how many schedules have been as difficult as this season's Longhorn schedule. Based on the final AP rankings, Texas beat the number two team on a semi-neutral field (USC), the number four team on the road (Ohio State); plus a couple of Top 25 teams: Texas Tech (20), and Oklahoma (22).